


the bet

by randomfatechidna



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, sometimes the team makes bets and nat gets upset when she isn't in on them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 15:25:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10879620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomfatechidna/pseuds/randomfatechidna
Summary: Nobody knows if the Vision and Wanda are actually dating, so, naturally, they bet on it.





	the bet

**Author's Note:**

> so many people have written this trope but it's just too good to give up y'know

"Twenty."

"Fifty."

"You're on."

*

Sam's made everyone breakfast: pancakes and scones and eggs, and they seat themselves around the familiar table, favouring seats that they've, over many meals in the tower, claimed unofficially for their own. Vision, who doesn't need to eat, but humours the team by turning up anyway, pulls out a seat for Wanda and tucks her in, and reclaims the seat next to her for himself. 

Food is passed around; someone asks about Clint's kids and he launches into a story about their latest escapades, gesturing wildly to convey his point. Wanda leans into the Vision as she reaches for the salt, grinning up at him as she plucks it from the other side of his plate. Wanda returns to her own side, and salts her breakfast, keeping the arm closest to the Vision hidden under the table. Natasha notes, schooling her expression into a vague interest for Clint's story, that both Vision's arms rest beneath the cover of the table, too. 

They're so glaringly obvious. She's going to decimate whoever distracted Clint with his kids. 

*

She's just woken up from a nap and is pushing buttons on the coffee machine without really thinking. At this point, she'll be lucky if whatever comes out is actually drinkable. 

She sighs as she blinks wearily: she's getting too old for this. There are aches in her back she never had when she was fresh from the Red Room, and as time passes, the urge to nap after lunch like a senior citizen has grown stronger. 

(She files away "senior citizen nap time" to torment Steve with later.)

Wanda walks in, looking windswept and flushed, and interests herself in the contents of the fridge. Nat smiles at her over her coffee. "You look like you've been having fun."

Wanda shoots a grin over her shoulder, double-takes. "You look like shit, Widow."

Nat raises her mug in a mock salute. If only her handlers could see her now, achey and tired and addicted to coffee. "You didn't answer my question."

"Vision took me out," she says. She chooses an apple from the crisper and bites into it. "He's teaching me how to fly."

A raised eyebrow. "Is that all that's going on out there?" She leans over the counter conspiratorially, in the way she usually does when Maria and Pepper come over for girls' night and Pepper's drunk enough to start telling stories about Tony. 

Wanda knits her eyebrows, and Nat can swear there's a hint of fear in them. Where is Clint? She needs him here and ready to analyse her evidence. 

"Is that any of your business?" Wanda asks, not without humour. She's deflecting. Nobody asks someone to teach them to fly without motives. Or they do. She's never really been trained in these kinds of things.

Wanda takes another bite of her apple and leaves. Nat waves goodbye to her back. 

*

Training is tougher than usual. Holographic monsters emerge from every corner of the simulation room, shooting lasers wildly at the new recruits. Rhodey and Sam only just manage to watch their own backs, let alone get on the offence, and the Vision and Wanda avoid hits by hairs' breadths. The team, however, isn't completely at a loss. Every time a laser finds its way near Vision, the laser light bends away from him and onto another holo, shredding the light into individual beams, and then disactivating. It'd be a neat trick, if it was being used more than to just protect one synthezoid. 

Nat nudges Clint. "Watch Wanda."

Clint changes his gaze for a moment, watching as Wanda deflects another laser beam. "That doesn't mean anything," he says at last, with a dismissive sweep of his hand. "They're partners."

Nat shakes her head in disbelief. "Are you going to just going to deny all of my evidence until I give you the money?"

Clint nods wearily. She socks him in the arm. 

"Hey," he says, sobering a little. "Go easy on her. She's new to all this and she's pretty afraid of you. She's heard the stories."

Nat had never been the warmest agent, but she had been making a sincere effort to be kind to Wanda, if not motherly, and it shocks her to hear. "What do you mean?" she says sharply. 

"Kidding, kidding!" he says, raising his arms in an attempt to placate her. "She just really wants you to stop drinking all the good coffee."

"Shut up."

"I'll need my fifty dollars first."

*

"He won't wake up."

Wanda's face is pink and blotchy, and she's sniffling wetly, absent tears rolling down her cheeks. 

They all go with her, the few of them who are up early but haven't yet left the tower of a Sunday morning, and find themselves, surprisingly, at her door. Nat knows this is hardly the time, but she spares an expressionless glance at Clint. When this is all over and the Vision is well again, then they'll talk. 

Wanda seems to notice everyone's discomfort. "I have trouble sleeping, sometimes," she says quietly, eyes never leaving his prone form resting quietly in her bed. "He helps." 

Stark and Rhodey find a trolley and wheel the Vision down to the infirmary. Wanda holds herself so tight that Nat gets the distinct impression she's trying not to fall apart in front of them all. She gives Clint a look: go tell the rest of the team to come back. He nods, and excuses himself, clearing the room. 

"Hey," she says. She pats the bed, putting an end to Wanda's pacing. "Come sit." 

Wanda has always been hesitant. Since her brother's death, even after all this time, she's always seemed like she was waiting for something like an affirmation before she did things. She sits, eventually. Arms crossed tight around her stomach, she bends over as if she is physically unwell. "He helps me," Wanda repeats, like she's trying to prove something. "On bad nights, we help each other. He's really human, Nat. He really cares."

"I believe you," Nat says. "He's going to wake up. It's going to be okay."

Wanda looks up at her, fresh tears spilling over, and leans over to cry into her shoulder. 

*

The Vision regains consciousness slowly, with Wanda hovering anxiously above him. She squeezes his hand as if trying to infuse her own life into him, and jumps a little when his hand twitches. 

"He's coming back," she says, turning away from him for the first time since they arrived in the infirmary to address the room. She misses the beginnings of his smile when he registers her voice; she turns back to him and his eyes are fluttering open, not surprised in the slightest to have Wanda be the very first thing he sees. Again. 

They exchange quiet words while Tony confirms that all of his systems are online and functioning as they should be. She touches him gently, and he teases the fingers that are wrapped around his own. "Tony says you need to start sleeping. You're getting too worked up lately." She smiles softly. The sentimentality in their gestures makes Nat feel almost physically sick with memory. She is glad that Wanda can have this. She spent too long isolating herself; she deserves this easy intimacy. 

Wanda seems to suddenly remember where she is, and Nat takes the opportunity to excuse herself. There's no real point to playing chaperone if they're just going to do what they're doing anyway. 

As she exits the room, Steve stops her. 

"I heard about your bet."

Nat looks up at him and blinks owlishly. "What?" 

"Everyone knows at this point. Wanda's all but confessed that there's something going on. And the Vision doesn't know how to keep a secret to save his life."

Nat frowns. There's a conspiracy in this, she just can't work out what it is. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because nobody's told Clint anything." He smiles. There's a devilish glint in his eyes. "The rest of the team has bets on how long we can keep it from him. You know how he likes to think he's a father figure to her."

Nobody told her. And Steve is so smug about it. Inside, Natasha is reeling from shock. On the outside, she makes a show of looking at her watch. It is a long time past lunch. She bares her teeth sweetly up at him. "Isn't two o'clock nap time at the senior citizens home?"

He laughs as he walks away. "You can hurl jokes at me all you want, Nat. You're never gonna see your fifty dollars as long as I live."

"Which won't be for long, now, old man," she calls back. 

*

"Wanda," Nat calls. "Come over here a minute." She's been inseparable from the Vision the days following his incident, training with him in every spare moment and following him to his room at night to make sure he gets to sleep okay. It still baffles the team that he even needs sleep, but Wanda takes it all in stride, as if she knew all along. 

As Wanda parts with Vision, she spares a glance over her shoulder where he remains, floating gently above the training mats, concentrating the force of the mind stone into a precise point fifty metres from where he is. 

Wanda folds her arms. "What's up?" 

An explosion rattles the glass in the windows. Vision lets out a sound of satisfaction. 

"You and Vision. You know about the bets?" 

Wanda nods, raises an eyebrow. "Are you going to try and buy me out, Nat? Because literally the entire team has tried that."

"No," Nat says. She's still struggling to comprehend how she hadn't figured out about the other bets. Usually if someone had money on something, she was the one to keep the books. She tries to keep her focus, but it's personal now. "I do want to know why you haven't told Clint anything."

Wanda shrugs. For a moment, Nat sees what she truly is: a young girl with a secret boyfriend. "I don't really know how to talk to him about it. I get the feeling he won't believe me. Or he'll try and threaten Vision." She scuffs her boot on the ground and turns back to see how everyone else is doing in training. 

"Okay," Nat says. "Let me take care of it. Don't stress about it, okay?" 

Wanda nods her assent. "Just don't make it a big thing, won't you? Keep it low-key."

*

Clint enters the kitchen. A huge banner spans the length of the kitchen ceiling. It reads:

WANDA AND VISION ARE A COUPLE!

Everyone yells "Surprise!" like it's his birthday. Money changes hands. 

Clint leaves the kitchen.


End file.
